Beethoven: The Middle String Quartets

Ludwig Van Beethoven (Composer), Quartetto Italiano (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Quartetto Italiano
• Composer: Ludwig Van Beethoven
• Audio CD (November 28, 1989)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B00000E3LN
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #466,313 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great music, performance but sonics are very mediocre, superseded, February 3, 2011

By 

jt52 "jt52" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beethoven: The Middle String Quartets (Audio CD)

This is perhaps the single best performance of among the best music ever written. I keep listening to other recordings of the Op. 59, 74 and 95 Beethoven quartets, some of them very fine, and come back to the Italiano versions with pleasure. The Qto Italiano play with emotion, a sophisticated yet non-ostentatious directness and with a greater dynamic range than other ensembles. I don't want to call this recording "definitive" because there are so many other very good versions but for me it's the central interpretation of Beethoven's chamber music. Everything else revolves around it.

BUT I don't recommend purchasing this set due to its sonic qualities of this edition and due to the 2007 re-issue of the Middle Quartets (ASIN: B000PMFTDG). The 2007 remastering is a big step forward from this earlier issue and is worth the price difference. The original recordings are very good. The 1990s remastering under review here, while by far not the worst ADD transfer I have listened to, had a fair amount of digital haze and it grates, especially over time. While I could listen to it on my expensive rig, it isn't ideal by any means. The new 2007 remastering reduces the digital haze significantly and reveals details obscured in the remastering reviewed here.

I recommend the 2007 re-issue as a much better alternative.